


Sixty-Four

by ThatPawnbrokersShopAroundTheCorner



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Aging, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Kink Meme, M/M, Murder Husbands, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:20:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatPawnbrokersShopAroundTheCorner/pseuds/ThatPawnbrokersShopAroundTheCorner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hannibal feels mortality knocking on his door for the first time when he's nearing fifty-five</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sixty-Four

**Author's Note:**

> In response to this prompt: https://hannibalkink.dreamwidth.org/4963.html?thread=8176227#cmt8176227 (not entirely following the prompt to the letter though :3)

   

* * *

           

Hannibal feels mortality knocking on his door for the first time when he's nearing fifty-five. It doesn't come with the climbing of stairs where he finds himself a bit winded, or the creaking of joints when he stands up too suddenly.

 

No, it comes right after a kill. He's been running for too long, the man is difficult to deal with, and the act of murder wipes him out completely. For the first time, Hannibal feels no elation, but just sheer exhaustion.

 

So, he lets Will handle the messier aspects of it all, excusing himself. Will smiles and says he doesn't mind. It’s fine.

 

Hannibal minds though. For someone who's been as physically active as Hannibal his entire life, it comes as a shock: that he's bone-tired, that he's so weak he needs to rest or he'll collapse right then and there.

 

This must be a mistake, he says out loud.

 

Will throws him an amused, even pitying look, but Hannibal feels no humour at the fact. If anything, it bothers him more than anything else.

 

Will hugs him that night, saying that it's all right, and that this can happen to anyone.

 

Hannibal wishes he could believe that.

–

 

The other signs of aging come after this. Not immediately, but it seems that there’s no stopping them either.

 

Hannibal's hair seems greyer than before, and he counts more and more lines on his face whenever he looks in the mirror.

 

Will teases him for it, but it's gentle, sympathetic, and Hannibal wonders if it's only a matter of time before Will says that he's going through a midlife crisis.

 

He wonders if Will will stay with him when it's more than just a midlife crisis, and his hair turns entirely white.

 

He finds his doubts cast aside each time Will tucks a grey hair of Hannibal's away and kisses him on the forehead, saying that Hannibal is beautiful no matter what.

 

–

 

The exhaustion becomes more permanent, more grating. It's harder to play with his victims, less enjoyable to chase after them physically.

 

His mind still feels the thrill, but years and years of hunting start taking their toll. Hannibal's knees hurt, his back needs more rest, and his muscles no longer obey him as they once did.

 

He’s no longer a force to be reckoned with, and Hannibal begins to understand what it means to be human.

 

Time is no man's friend. Not even Hannibal's.

 

–

 

Will is ten years younger than Hannibal, and Hannibal can see that they are a decade apart when he looks at Will lately.

 

Despite the scar on his face, despite the beard, Will has maintained his angelic, nearly boyish looks and appears as gorgeous as he did the first time Hannibal laid eyes on him. Where Hannibal has aged like fine wine, Will still looks youthful.

 

Hannibal is not angry about it. It fills him with wonder, in fact, reminding him day after day just how fortunate he is to have captured this creature's heart.

 

So much so that he doesn't mind anymore that it's Will who brings the meat home more often these days than Hannibal himself.

 

–

 

Will has perfected his art, coming back home with more stories of how he's transformed his victims, how he's elevated them to something more than murderers.

 

Hannibal can merely smile, making space for Will on the sofa as he takes a sip of his tea. He tells Will to wait and then sets off to prepare the meal.

 

This is something only he can do, and he will not stop until it's physically no longer possible. Besides, this is the one way he can reward Will, show him how proud he is, and how much he appreciates everything.

 

Not just because Will stayed, but because he never will leave Hannibal alone again.

 

***

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